Direct traffic back to your website

Selling on ecommerce marketplaces can really help grow your exposure, generate leads, and community.

How would you go about this though?

Places like Etsy and Amazon are great for initial exposure and shipping discounts, but the marketing is still down to you. Most places have terms and conditions around being able to upsell your personal website but there are ways around this. The reason you want to market your own platform would be for the goal of continually growing your business.

Business Marketing and Advertising Terms and Conditions:

You can pay for Etsy ads to make you stand out a bit more on their website and app, pay for appearances on auto-enrolled offsite ads, or get to know the intricacies of Etsy specific SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

However, if you do want to direct traffic to your own website, there is no rule on Etsy to say you cannot sell items that are also listed on Etsy from your own site. You can even put your website link and promote your website in your ‘About’ Section. Be careful though, you must not directly promote customers buying items on your website instead of on Etsy if those items are on both sites. This would be fee avoidance.

In simple terms, as long as you are not directly saying “Hey! You can get a better deal on my website” or “You should buy from our website instead” then you will be able to promote your website on Etsy. An even easier method could be to just list different items and say things like “If you like the look of this {insert product} then you will love what else we have to offer on our website.”

Amazon is far stricter. They do not allow you to market your own website in any way that would lead the customer away from purchasing on Amazon. You cannot place materials alluding to anything to do with your website on your listings, packing slips, invoices or in your packages. If Amazon were to find out that you were promoting your website anywhere else, then they would deem that as a contract violation and they could suspend your account.

You can use Amazon ‘Stores’ to make a website for your business on Amazon. Fees would still apply though. For a rundown of these fees, you can read our ecommerce marketplace blog here.

All marketing for your business website would have to be done through your own marketing prowess using SEO and Social Media Marketing.

Not on the Highstreet is subjectively the best marketplace for providing excellent marketing and customer traffic opportunities.

However, they have complete control over the end- product of your storefront on the Not on the Highstreet website. They have discretion over the look and feel of your website. With regards to self-promotion, they also have final say over the inclusion, positioning, content, and all other presentations of seller information.

Most importantly, any direct or indirect link to other websites including the Seller's own website, email address or any other means by which a Customer could communicate directly with the Seller, other than through the Not on the Highstreet CMS (Configuration Management System) is prohibited.

eBay does prohibit upselling your business’ own website on their website as all external links are forbidden. But they do not have any restrictions on promotional materials being placed within your packaging. You can implement business cards, coupons, and any other personalised promotional materials you like if it is appropriate.

At the end of the day, every marketplace has their own rules. The rule of thumb tends to be that you cannot ever directly promote that the customer buys from your website instead of purchasing from the marketplace your items are listed on. To do so would be a violation of your contract working with them. Make sure you always read the terms and conditions before promoting your website if you sell those same listings on a specific marketplace. You do not want to incur any hidden fees or be suspended.

Therefore, the decision is down to you. You can just have your own website and do all your own marketing. Or you can use a marketplace and all the benefits they come with while playing ball with their rules. You always want to strive for your company’s growth, but you need to play by the rules to do so successfully.

For more marketing support visit our marketing page or contact us.